Nifty, twisty suspense requiring some suspension of disbelief.
An attorney finds out who abducted her (and her sister) as teens in western Virginia while prosecuting a current case in this legal/crime thriller from Iwan.
Sisters Charlotte and Mari Jones, 18 and 14 years old, respectively, are camping in their hometown western Virginia woods. Charlotte, excited to start college in the fall, is awaiting boyfriend Jack Henry to join them around the campfire. The next thing we know, Charlotte is running from a shadowy attacker and passes out. She wakes up in a cave, eventually finding Mari there, who cries, “He hurt me.” Charlotte then has to fend off their kidnapper, and the girls flee, only to have Mari drown in the nearby river in an attempt to swim to safety. The narrative then jumps 22 years to the 1980s. Charlotte is now a U.S. attorney in D.C., prosecuting the kidnapping/molestation/murder of 8-year-old Kaya Adkins, whose disappearance had captivated the nation. She suspects the accused, a man named Mark Reynolds, is behind ongoing abductions in the area, but frustratingly there’s only evidence linking him to Kaya (and even that is questioned at trial). After the trial, Charlotte continues to dig into his past, which to her shock leads back to her family’s own sheep-rearing farm operations in Virginia. She uncovers more men with connections to the area abductions, including some she knows. Relying on players she doesn’t completely trust, and learning more about the tensions between the area’s Welsh-descended farmers and Monacan tribe, Charlotte ultimately gets answers while racing against the clock to expose a human trafficking ring just as another young girl goes missing.
Author Iwan has crafted a thriller that grabs reader interest from the get-go, given its shocking child abduction opening that will have readers (much like Charlotte) determined to seek clarity and closure on a tragic incident, which is effectively conveyed via murky, shadowy description. This book also contains clever slow reveals of several key details, including the identity of the “mystery man” that visits Charlotte in her D.C. apartment and why one instance of her awakening half-naked is not as threatening as it might seem. Although the cultural concerns and fears of Native Americans ultimately provide some context for why this horrific crime ring was held a secret for so long, the ethnic backgrounds of people in this Virginia community are not always apparent. Some plot elements are a bit fantastical, given the less than convincing evidence. It’s also a bit surprising that Charlotte, an area kidnapping victim herself, would be tapped to prosecute Kaya’s case in the first place, although this circumstance also helps to foster a tension-building sense of paranoia, with Charlotte at one point remarking to her family, “But what does it all mean? What are you going to suggest next? That it wasn’t a coincidence that I was assigned to Kaya’s case?” Charlotte’s interludes with her family, while serving as heartwarming contrast to the dark doings of the community that she soon exposes, prove tedious at times, with descriptions of meal-making and tea-drinking occasionally serving as frustrating interruptions to the main action.
Nifty, twisty suspense requiring some suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9798992234206
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
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